No folks, those mythical
N8 review units still aren't on our doorsteps, but we can offer you the next best thing: a thorough (we mean
thorough) overview of the
Symbian^3 environment that will be front and center on Nokia's next great phone. Eldar Murtazin of
mobile-review reports on everything from the sophisticated handling of contacts and caller ID pictures, through the noticeable speed improvements, past the limited utility of online widgets that display only two lines at a time, beyond the "weak spot" web browser, and all the way to Symbian's unhealthy habit of "clinging to continuity." It's an enlightening read, which pulls no punches with its conclusion: Symbian^3 is an evolutionary step up from S60 5th edition, which brings nothing new to the market and offers no comparative advantages. Strong words from Eldar, particularly when he doesn't disclose what build of the OS he's using; his rationale, however, is that his analysis relates to overarching design decisions and ignores software bugs and version-specific foibles. Make of that what you will.
[Thanks,
scotsboyuk]
posted June 24th 2010 6:15AM
@Techtrino
This is what I don't get. Eldar says it brings nothing new... does he mean like multi tasking or video calling or folders? Kind of hard to bring anything new when you've had those abilities for a good few years. Even more difficult when Apple have set the standard for a touch based UI that is probably as good as touch UI's get.
So for UI, nope, nothing new at all. What it does do is catch up with the iPhone and Android. I don't think it's quite as smooth as iPhone or HTC's Sense yet - stock Android is, frankly, a bit ugly - but is it bothersome enough to make a difference? Given that he admits its fast, simple and neat I kind of doubt it.
I respect Eldar's opinion here but he misses a glaringly obvious point even though he makes it himself by saying "For the Nokia fans who are satisfied with S60 5th edition it is a great improvement".
That's it. He could have stopped there because that's all that matters. It's a huge improvement on an interface that is used by millions of people. It may be 'functionally inferior' but not on things that people actually care about with the possible exception of apps and that's just a matter of time.
So whilst it may not have the 'social hub' (whatever that is - most people are just going to click on their Facebook and Twitter icons) or the applications yet but I don't think any Symbian users will really care that much. The people who buy this will buy it because it has a great camera, looks gorgeous is familiar (that's the point he really doesn't get when he moans about continuity) and works well.
Incidentally, I'd agree about the browser however there's always Opera isn't there? Also, yes, some of those default icons are stale and need a facelift (Calendar, Contacts, etc). It's amazing what a lick of paint can do and it's a very quick win.
They're socialists and socialists make shite because no-one loses their job - ever - based on performance.
@dgduris
A factory run by workers doesn't make money.
A factory run by accountants doesn't make anything.
@dgduris
Moron.
How else do you explain Epoc/S60 (Symbian) going from ruling the smartphone world - globally - to also-ran? Heck, the first smartphones were Symbian phones. My P910a did more in 2004 than WinMob phones did in 2007.
It's a shame, really. But, know what, they got a bazillion people involved and made a camel. No real innovation, just a slow progress towards the market death they are suffering. Socialism!
@dgduris
Still a moron.
Why not just fully push MeeGo. I know its still being worked on but since a lot of people want a refresh, they should just take all the pros on Symbian^(insert # here) and have MeeGo do those things. Have an emulator for old Symbian^ apps so that it can work within MeeGo, if there is a demand for it. If not just surpass it and move on.
Im not saying Symbian is bad I myself have an E71 and its a great phone, awesome build quality too. But the Ui and lack of app support is killing the platform. They need something new and improved, sleek, aesthetically pleasing, powerful and functional. And somehow garner the attention of developers. Overhaul the OviStore and make some media deals to get more content on it. So yeah they have a hell of a lot of work ahead of them but if they just move forward with MeeGo it would be better since they wouldnt have to juggle two platforms.
@EmGee They won't kill Symbian dead because it's ideal for low-end phones. Phones like the E71 that sells for near £100 or $150 unlocked. As long as there's a market for the cheap, common phone, with few flash-bang-whiz features, Nokia will continue to do well.
Windows Phone 7, WebOs, Andriod, iOS4 , blackberry OS are all believed to put a massive dent in Nokia sales. I think the only thing itll catch up too is RIMs' OS if they don't make any huge improvements as well.
If Symbian was a movie character it would be a Zombie.
The black slimy zombie in "Return of the Living Dead".
No matter how many brains it gets, it still remains an ugly, putrefying mess, that needs putting out of its misery.
C.
@Carniphage
If Symbian is a zombie then then welcome to Day Of The Dead because it's the biggest mobile OS there is.
@HKCally Like Windows!
@Carniphage
And? Oh, here's the bit where you assume everyone agrees with your opinion that some other OS is better than Windows? Sorry that isn't going to work out for you.
@HKCally I owned probably the first true Symbian device, the Psion Series 5. Which, back in the day, was a remarkable device.
The remarkable thing was implementing a functioning GUI on a low-powered device. A trick achieved by cleverly hacking down the software to the core.
Times have moved on, and mobile devices are now capable of running fully fledged UNIX implementations, with interfaces customised for touch-screen capacitive displays. The clever optimisations of Symbian are no longer needed. What the market needs is a richer, less compromised experience. People don't want to pay for "compromised" functionality.
So yes Symbian finds itself in a huge number of low-end devices. But those devices are in a part of the market that is commercially irrelevant. The bottom-end is for bottom-feeders.
This is why Apple's modest-selling handset makes more money than the untold hundreds of SKUs that Nokia pushes out. Yes, you are correct that the market buys Symbian handsets by the million, but the market does not assign much value to them.
Nokia have announced that its premium line of N-series devices will no longer ship with Symbian. So I guess this means that Nokia don't see much value in it either.
Nokia has a number of commercial rivals. Competitors that are trying to get their products into the same place. But Nokia's largest rival is Nokia itself. Competing with yourself, with two rival systems is commercially stupid. And I think Nokia are only now realising that fact.
C.
@Carniphage
I don't care how much Apple make as I don't own any shares in the company. Judging by their woeful hardware and crippled software, they are "high end" by virtue of price alone and not quality.
@HKCally So by your arguments...
The number of *units* sold is a strong indicator of the success of a device, the amount of *money* made is not.
Fine.
So by that argument. Macdonalds is the finest food on the planet.
C.
@Carniphage
And iPods are utter shite.
Cuts both ways, chief.
@Carniphage
"@HKCally So by your arguments...
The number of *units* sold is a strong indicator of the success of a device, the amount of *money* made is not."
Nicely invented. Pity I never said that, huh?
The amount of money made is a direct indicator of success. The number of units sold has is no direct indicator of quality.
@HKCally
If profitability is an indicator of success then the iPhone is the most successful handset on the market by a massive margin. Even if we exclude the iPod touch and the iPad, the numbers are very clear.
It is a product that consumers want, and are willing to pay for. Today's iPhone 4 launch seems to confirm that. There were lines around the block in every outlet. Has Nokia ever provoked that level of enthusiasm?
I certainly agree that Nokia will continue to thrive as a vendor of the low-end smartphones. But that market segment is not very valuable, and Nokias ever-falling revenues reflect its inability to deliver a product that consumers really want.
Nokia's N-Series devices are now selling less than half the numbers it sold back when the N95 was considered a cool device. And when the N95 was a cool device, the smartphone was not a mass market proposition.
C.
@Carniphage
"If profitability is an indicator of success"
Success for the company, yes. As I said already I do not own shares in Apple or Nokia. I have no interest in how much money they make. In fact, I want both of them to make as little money out of me as possible, which is why I bought a Nokia.
"It is a product that consumers want, and are willing to pay for."
Not the same as making it the best phone, no matter what silly way you're trying to make out it is.
"Has Nokia ever provoked that level of enthusiasm?"
Er, yes. They outsell Apple 3 to 1. That's 3 times as much enthusiasm I guess...
"Nokia's N-Series devices are now selling less than half the numbers it sold back when the N95 was considered a cool device."
And I, you, or anyone else care about that why? Nokia still sells the same number of smartphones, the most any company does by a long shot, as they did 12 months ago.
Only in your fanboy dreams are they losing anything.
The n900 was my first, and last Nokia phone. It is an awesome phone running an awesome OS that was supposed to be Nokia's flagship phone for the next year. It turned out to be a "flagship" phone with hardly any software support, where third party developers are more interested in making useless emulators for dead computer and game platforms, and Nokia has abandoned Maemo in order to work on Meego without any guarantee of n900 support. Now this inferior symbian platform comes along, probably putting the final nail in the n900's coffin.
@Jak Crow n900 will have meego support by the comunity. on 30 june the first pre -alpha version of meego will be released and you can install it on n900
@Jak Crow
You apparently have no idea of what is going on with Nokia, MeeGo, Symbian or Maemo apps.
@Jak Crow
Additionally you really didn't know what kind of device N900 was planned to be.
Maybe you can tell what software support you are missing? I.e., what programs you would like to see for it.
before N8 gets compared with iPhone 4 , do they realize that N8 costs about half (unlocked version) an still DOES MORE and is more reliable ? wasn't every comparison supposed to be based on price ?
@and then the god said
I couldnt agree with your less.
@InfDaMarvel
You could hardly have articulated your reasons for thinking so less either.
whatever you do Nokia, you are dead !
@khalidksa
Oh noes, exact same market share as 12 months ago, i.e. sells more than Apple, RIM and Motorola combined. Doomed I tells ya, doomed.
lame phone heheh... its soooo 2004... ^^
hi nokia! its 2010 already... very old symbian whatever version...